No matter where you work in the country, if you are in the accounting or real estate industries, you know that the economy is not going to turn around overnight.  And it is during these times that having a firm knowledge of the upcoming financial forecasts is most vital.  I wanted to post an article that discussed what we could look forward to this fall in the real estate market and I came across a research report from OptHome, which is an online resource for empowering homeowners, buyers and sellers to make smart decisions for all their homeowner needs, announces that although the fall will probably not show an increase in home prices, buyer interest appears to be building, and will begin to set the stage for recovery. The areas of the country that have seen the biggest price declines have now seen the biggest increase in sales, indicating that buyers are responding to lower prices. And while it is impossible to say precisely when the real estate market will bottom out until it actually begins to go back up, the market is likely hovering at the bottom right now—begging the question—is this a good time to jump into the market?

“When mortgage payments and property taxes are around the same as it costs to rent, this is usually an indicator that it is an excellent time to buy,” said Dave Sears Co-Founder and Chief Strategist at OptHome. “While the market could still go down a bit, it can also begin to go up, so buyers may want to seriously consider taking the leap.”

OptHome cautions savvy buyers and sellers to look at a different kind of “To Dos and To Knows” checklist before making a move this fall or beyond, and offers the following tips.

Tips for Sellers:

• Now is THE time to move up: If you want to buy a bigger or nicer home, now is the time to do it. Right now you will get a better deal because the larger house you want to buy has probably taken more of a price cut than you will have to take on your current home. It’s a sliding scale – in your favor – as you consider more expensive homes.
• Pricing your home correctly has never been more vital; do your homework and listen to your agent: Well priced homes in good condition and good locations are selling faster than ones that are priced above the appropriate range.
• “Fixer-Uppers” don’t win in this market: Homes in good condition are available at very reasonable prices.
• Understanding the Home Improvement Return on Investment Index is critical in this market: Sellers may not recoup investments on many upgrades; focus your dollars and time on what will help your home sell.
• Paint before it gets cold: If you want to sell in the fall, do all your painting now. Use the last of the summer weather to do any exterior painting your home may need.
• Don’t let your house hibernate: Be careful not to give your house the closed-down, winter hibernation look. For example, don’t leave a boat wrapped and covered for winter on your lawn.

Tips for Buyers:

• Don’t try to “time the bottom of the market” – you may kick yourself later: This is a great market for a buyer. By the time you realize the market has hit rock bottom, it will already be on its way back up.
• Do research on prices of similar homes: Focus on the true value of a property rather than the percentage you may be able to negotiate off the price. You may not get the “rock bottom” price, but you will do well as the market improves in 2009 and 2010.
• Really look at ALL the numbers: Find out the price per square foot of your potential new home. Is it below what new construction or the cost to replace it would be? If so, you will build equity quicker.
• Pay close attention to your mortgage rate: Fixed rates are your safest bet and if you can afford it, going with a shorter term mortgage helps build equity in your home faster.
• Be careful with “Short Sales”: This is when a seller can’t afford to pay their mortgage and the lender agrees to accept less than what is owed. This should be disclosed, but it is important to ask before you make an offer. Otherwise you may end up at the mercy of the seller’s mortgage holder which could delay and even prevent closing as it can sometimes take weeks for a lender to respond to an offer.

An interesting case study of this law is occurring presently, with Bill Ussery Motors’ Mercedes Benz of Coral Gables dealership filing a lawsuit against Palmetto Sport Cars, Inc., alleging that the used car dealership illegally acquired and sold new Mercedes Benz vehicles less than one mile from the Mercedes franchise dealership. The suit seeks compensation for related damages and an injunction against the independent dealership to prevent it from continuing to illegally compete with the Ussery dealership.

The lawsuit alleges that Palmetto Sport Cars acquired new Mercedes vehicles from an out-of-market dealer and illegally offered for sale these new vehicles that had never been legally titled from a dealership to a purchaser. In fact, the manufacturer’s records still reflect that most of these cars, if not all, are still in the inventory of the out-of-market dealer.

“Florida statutes governing franchise dealerships are designed to protect legitimate business enterprises from those who engage in unfair methods of competition, or unconscionable, deceptive or unfair business practices,” said Alex Kurkin of the Miami-based law firm of Kurkin Brandes, LLP, the attorneys for Bill Ussery Motors, Inc. “Palmetto became a de facto Mercedes Benz dealership in wanton violation of the law. This has caused a substantial monetary loss to our client which we will seek to recover. As this is not the only dealership that has engaged in this practice, this case will likely be the first of many of these lawsuits unless other violating dealers take heed and immediately abandon this practice.”

Obviously we do not have the details on this case since we’ve only heard the plaintiff’s argument, however in general, if you are in the franchise industry, pay close attention to your rights, along with your competitor’s rights prior to selling a directly competing product.  And if you are a used car dealership, please don’t try selling new cars!

The findings are from the Second Annual Taking Charge survey, an in-depth investigation of America’s relationship with credit cards. The national study was fielded by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media for CreditCards.com, the leading online credit card marketplace and consumer information source.

Taken as a whole, the poll shows most consumers are reacting reasonably to financial difficulties by pulling back on discretionary spending, and express little concern about their ability to pay down debt. But those who can’t or won’t adjust are finding themselves in deeper and deeper debt trouble. To put it in Darwinian terms, consumers must adapt or they simply won’t financially survive.

“As the use of plastic becomes more prevalent in American daily life, consumers who implement healthy credit card habits will be more apt to financially survive in a cashless society,” said Ben Woolsey, Director of Marketing and Consumer Research for CreditCards.com.

Consumers appear to be taking proactive steps to avoid the credit crunch in their credit card affairs:

• 25 percent of U.S. cardholders say they spent less on household living expenses last month compared to normal.
• One-third of cardholders report that they ended the previous month with a lower outstanding balance than the month before.
• 34 percent say they spent less on discretionary expenses, such as eating out or shopping at the mall; 46 percent say they spent less on major purchases, such as appliances or furniture.
• Some consumers are giving up on credit: The proportion claiming to be current cardholders has dropped 4 percentage points since the 2007 Taking Charge survey.
• Only 7 percent of Americans say they worry “a lot” about paying off their credit card bills; 63 percent say they are not at all worried.
• People are hunting for low interest rates. Nearly 4 in 10 surveyed agreed that they are always looking for low interest rates to transfer their existing balances, while 67 percent of cardholders agree that they “actively monitor” the interest rates on their credit cards.
• Despite all the bad economic news of the past year, American cardholders are no more worried than last year about paying their credit card bills, with 27 percent agreeing with the statement, “At times I worry about how I’m going to pay my credit cards.” That figure is unchanged from last year’s poll.

Who does worry about paying credit card bills? According to the poll, those with the greatest credit card bill worries are people:

• With household incomes below $75,000.
• Who have four or more credit cards.
• Who are older than 40.

• Starting Your Business: writing a business plan, financing, researching your market, securing premises
• Growing Your Business: sales strategies, marketing, selling on the web, tax and employment law
• People Issues: Expanding overseas, buying commercial property, franchising

“HSBC is dedicated to the success of our customers. For businesses, especially start-ups, this means creating a successful relationship network and leveraging the knowledge and contacts of others,” said Amanda J. Rendle, Head of Business Marketing, HSBC. “We chose LiveWorld to leverage their best-in-class social network platform, and as important, their thought leadership for Internet relationship marketing.”

The online community will feature the highly-rated Start-Up Stars program in which HSBC annually showcases successful and innovative start-up entrepreneurs. HSBC’s business specialists who focus on building relationships with start-up managers and to help them succeed will be active members of the community. The social network is integrated with HSBC’s Knowledge Centre web site featuring a wide array of business resources.

“HSBC is at once the largest bank in the world and the most dedicated to connecting with their customers at a local level,” said Peter Friedman, Chairman & CEO, LiveWorld. “In the 21st century, this means connecting globally and locally through social networks. Their commitment to empowering their customers to connect with each other, as well as HSBC, represents the market leader’s customer centric-thinking.”

HSBC’s Business Network launched this Spring and can be visited at http://network.hsbc.co.uk/index.jspa. Built on LiveWorld’s industry-leading Community Center platform and moderation services, the business network features rich profiles for businesses and individuals, blogs, photo albums, video, podcasts, topical message forums, showcase galleries, HSBC community calendar and many other features.

If you’re a small business owner or planning to become one, it is vital to have a strong understanding of your potential consumers. And in this day and age, knowing your customers’ technological habits is crucial for success. Forrester Research released the results of its 2008 North American Technographics Benchmark survey, its largest annual data set about consumers’ technology adoption and attitudes, based on a mail survey of nearly 61,000 consumers representing 53,000 households in the US and Canada. A rich data asset for Consumer Market Research professionals’ product planning and go-to-market strategy assessments, the 11th annual Benchmark includes responses to more than 100 questions covering 1,500 elements and more than 450 brands. It is the largest ongoing survey in the world to explore consumer attitudes, ownership, and use of technology.

A generational analysis of the survey results is available in the new report, “The State Of Consumers And Technology: Benchmark 2008.” By examining the unique technology profile of each generation, Consumer Market Research professionals can gain critical insight into future buying and adoption trends for their target demographic and set their product strategies for the next five years.

“Gen Y is the audience that most companies are struggling to understand right now because it’s key to their future revenue growth,” said Charles Golvin, principal analyst at Forrester Research. “One of the questions we’re asked most frequently is the difference between Gen Y and Gen X, and this year’s data clearly shows the distinction. Gen Xers use technology when it supports a lifestyle need, while technology is so deeply embedded into everything Gen Yers do that they are truly the first native online population.”

According to the report, although Gen Y is a small generation of 18- to 28-year-olds, comprising only 38 million US adults, it sets the pace for technology adoption. Nine in 10 Gen Yers own a PC, and 82 percent own a mobile phone. But it is technology use that sets this generation apart: Gen Y spends more time online — for leisure or work — than watching TV; 72 percent of Gen Y mobile phone owners send or receive text messages; 42 percent of online Gen Yers watch Internet video at least monthly.

In contrast, Gen X, which is comprised of 29- to 42-year-olds — 63 million US adults — uses technology when it intersects with a personal need or fulfills a desire. For example, 32 percent of Gen X households own an HDTV, and 29 percent have a DVR. In the past three months, 69 percent of online Gen Xers shopped online and 65 percent banked online, higher percentages than any other generation. Gen X is also ramping up its Internet and mobile activities, including reading blogs (21 percent of online Gen Xers do it at least monthly, up from 15 percent in 2007) and texting (61 percent of Gen X mobile subscribers do it today, up from 49 percent in 2007).

In the current challenging real estate market, it is important to understand all of the technologies that are available. I ran across a site this morning that I think will be of interest to everyone in the real estate industry. The company is called Roost, and it is a search engine that sits atop IDX, or Internet Data Exchange, sites. IDX is the national data sharing standard among all real estate brokers. Most popular real estate search sites are listing aggregators, and unlike IDX sites powered by the MLS, these sites get their listings for properties for sale from a variety of sources including brokers, magazine publishers, newspapers, other software companies, and sometimes, even each other. The result is often inaccurate and incomplete data, leading to frustration for home buyers. With Roost, users can create custom search profiles with simple filtering controls to sort by price range, square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, neighborhood, school district, new or resale properties and more – even which homes have granite countertops or pools.

Roost’s platform and traffic-sharing approach with brokers helps agents form new connections with potential clients, serving as an important ally for real estate agents struggling to stay afloat in one of the most difficult housing markets in history. Below is a chart of unique visitors going to Roost.com on a monthly basis.

“Roost is a fantastic service for home buyers, home sellers and agents in New England,” said Stephen McGuire, Vice President of Prudential Verani Realty. “Information is critical when searching for a home – it’s the one resource that will make the difference between success and frustration. Roost gives home buyers a real advantage in a difficult market and brings them closer than other online search engines to finding their dream home. The combination of Roost.com and www.Verani.com is a win-win solution for both buyers and sellers.”

Roost recently announced the launch of its service in San Francisco and Seattle and earned the Innovator Award for Most Innovative Technology from Inman News, the leading source of independent real estate news and opinion for the industry.

So stay tuned, we will be updating this blog on a regular basis with informative business content to assist you in each of your endeavors.

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